


Bright Blue Byways

by Timothy_Boomerang



Category: Defenders of Tomorrow, Voltron Reboot - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Cyberpunk, Dystopian Alternate Universe, Fate, Fluff, Multi, Precious Akira, Precious Leandro, Reincarnation, Slow Burn, Utopian Alternate Universe, furturistic, timeloop AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-28 05:57:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15701232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Timothy_Boomerang/pseuds/Timothy_Boomerang
Summary: Some say that no matter what happens in life, you’ll somehow meet your soulmate. Whether they’re just your lifelong neighbor, a best friend, or just some random person you bumped into on the corner of first and fifth, you’ve met them before.Some say that fate has a way of bringing soulmates together whether they realize the potential or not.And some even say that if you don’t fall in love with your soulmate, another version of you does. Be it in an Alternate Reality, or a Reincarnation, fate finds a way to bring you together.Fate always finds a way.





	Bright Blue Byways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leandro’s mission in Radix goes awry, but his hero’s there to sweep him off his feet.

 

  It’s been hundreds of years since the Paladins of Voltron were last called into battle, years since their funerals, and years since the Lions became a part of Earth, body and soul.

  Now stony statues covered in vines, the Lions are the only structures more than a couple hundred years old. At least, that you can still see.

  Earth became the apex of modern technology and, with the help of other advanced aliens races, their ascension to a powerhouse planet was quite quick.

  The entirety of Earth appears to be covered in bustling cities, the largest being Radix.

  It always seems to be aglow with neon lights and flashing signs, the world driven by tech and magic alike. The technology is faster, the human brain is faster, the world spins faster.

  Spaceships of all shapes and sizes from a variety of locations litter the atmosphere of the Great City, importing and exporting everything from power to peas, artificial and enhanced to ordinary.

  Thus far, besides a petty criminal or two, societies with the planets and aliens now in orbit, on Earth or in its solar system have run smoothly. The cities are governed by the people and aliens who live there. Communication is beyond easy with the devices Allura left behind for humans to study and break down. No language boundaries.

  There’s peace.

  But in times of peace, people must prepare for war.

  Last time war came to Earth, Voltron ended it, a feat deemed impossible to repeat.

  But Fate, the cruel spirit they are, does not let anyone slip from their grasp. For, as some say, if you don’t find your soulmate in one life, you’ll find them in another.  


 

* * *

  
  
  
  
  
  “Freakin’ hate this.” A boy mutters, running a tan hand through his messy, brown curls to the back of his neck where his hair’s been shaved off in an undercut.

  “Hate what, Leandro?” The voice comes from his earpiece, a practically invisible device stuffed behind his right ear that transmits directly to his eardrum. The pitch of the voice is higher than Leandro’s, the person speaking must be younger than him.

  “Waiting.” Leandro lets out a dramatic groan, exaggerated so it’s heard clearly in the device. The person on the other end giggled but shushed him.

  “You’ll live.”

  “Will not. Dying of boredom is perfectly plausible, Lu. I died of boredom in Sims, version 108.” If you could hear eyes rolling, you’d hear ‘Lu’.

  “If you don’t live then I’ll have no one to play with! You’re my favorite playmate!” They we’re begging now.

  “You’re right! Best Bro Leandro can’t let down little Luna!”

  They chuckled together for a few seconds before Leandro snapped his jaw shut.

  “Here,” He whispers into the comm to let Luna know he’s okay and that his job has arrived.

  Leandro stands from where he’d been squatting in the pink lit alley, brushing off his brown pants and adjusting the loose forest green jacket that hung from his arms. Below the jacket was a thin blue sweater with a turtleneck top, the sleeves pushed up to the elbow despite the jacket sleeves being all the way down. No time to fix the discomfort now, he’d just live with it.

  Double checking that his pistols had enough charge and that his collapsible bow is ready in case he needs it, he turns to the building on his right and digs his gloved fingers into a small crevice in the side to pull himself up. His other arm shoots up for the next tiny ledge as he kicks the toe of his boot into the wall.  
He chips off a piece of its fancy exterior and uses the alcove as a foothold.

  Looking down, Leandro checks to see if the shoes, pants and shirt he bought were worth the cash he spent. All three items are meant to be resilient to outside forces (i.e. he shouldn’t feel a thing in his foot after that kick).

  His pants are wrapped in a modified leather, tightening them as they get closer to his ankle and the reinforced, black and brown combat boots. The pants remained undamaged, and the sweater is light and breezy.

  Satisfied, he brings his other foot up, kicks into the wall, and reaches for the next crevice up to scale the wall.

  The gloves protecting his finger aren’t meant for building scaling, they’re meant for his bow, but they do a good enough job to ignore the scuffs.

  He makes it to the third floor balcony relatively quickly, checking the holsters on his hips, thighs and the strap across his chest to make sure he hasn’t lost and valuables before leaning down to the keypad beside the door.

  Leandro slides the orange goggle-like device over his eyes, the interface popping up before them. It scans the keypad, checking for algorithms and common keys before telling him how to unlock it. After a series of awkward hand gestures against the keypad, the doors glide silently open and he slips equally as silently into the room.

  When the doors click behind him he moves into phase two, holding up his left wrist where the watch-like device scans the layout of the building and the current people inside.

  After a few too many seconds of silence when the machine is finished, Leandro hisses “Luna, on a schedule.”

  “Sorry, there’s an odd life signature within the building. Like an anomaly.” Luna says wisely, not speaking so childishly now that the events call for seriousness.

  “Get sissy to look at it while you give me directions. We don’t have time to check it out now.”

  “Leandro? Luna said there was an anomaly.” The voice sounds far away on the device, growing closer with each word.

  “Fifth floor, first room on the right, Leandro. Anomaly on the second floor, study it, please, María.”

  Both sibling’s return with a simple ‘got it’ when the youngest finishes. Leandro runs through the halls and up the steps, finally prying open the door he needs to. In his ear, he can hear the distinct clicking of keys on a keyboard as María types.

  Leandro raised a brow, his originally tense stance loosening.

  “The fu— heck is this?” In the center of the room he’s in is a black tube of partially transparent metal. It’s roughly five feet in diameter and it reaches down through the floor and up through the ceiling. The hole it’s built through is fenced off. The bottom appears wider than the top and the hole thing looks like a giant, fancy laser pointer.

  “Leo! Run!” María is screaming at him to get out.

  “Wait? What? Why?!” Leandro jumped back, twisting and bolting through the door he came in.

  “It’s a gun! You remember the Ion cannons from the stories of Voltron? Very real. They’ve enhanced it with the new tech and magic of Radix, and they want to use it. Suppliers are on their way up, you need out.” María rushes through her explanation and Leandro takes a hard left, sprinting down the vacant hall to the window.

  “I thought the anomaly was a life force!”

  Jumping, he pulls his pistol from his thigh holster and shoots at the window, broken glass raining down on him as he flies from the building onto the roof of the next one over. Angry shouts and a few laser blasts follow him out as he rolls to soften the landing before continuing to run.

  Leandro leaps forward, his hands grabbing the ledge of the roof to twist his body around and get his legs over the edge without slowing his momentum too much. He drops down into the alley between the building he just ran across and the one on it’s opposite side.

  “Leandro?! Are you hurt?”

  “Fine María.” He pants. “Just a bit of an adrenaline rush.”

  He’s got a stitch in his side that he got from twisting awkwardly over the edge, but he doesn’t mention it, smiling at his get away. The moment is short lived when a voice cuts through the quiet sounds of his breathing in the alley.

  “You need to come with me. Quickly.”

  Leandro raises his head, blue and brown eyes flicking towards the silhouette of the stranger, his eyebrows raised in shock. He pulls the goggles off his eyes, resting them on his head. Straightening, he steels himself.

  “Why should I trust you?” From what he can tell, the guy can’t afford a haircut, opting to hold his longer black hair back with a ponytail. The glowing lights make it difficult to see the color of his skin but it appears pale, but not unhealthily so.

  Through the red and black jacket, despite how thick and loose it is, Leandro can see he’s built rather well. Not that he’s intimidated, he’s fit, too, but a guy can admire. He’s got broad shoulders, narrow hips fitted with some sort of utility belt, and muscular legs showing through the tight black pants, every muscle highlighted in fluorescent pinks and purples.

  His shirt is tight fitting at the chest but loose at his waist, greyish in the alley. He’s got a dagger strapped to his right thigh and some sort of sword or blade over his shoulder.

  When Leandro goes to meet his eyes, he finds it funny that he actually has to look down. He finds the color is hidden by their bangs but he can tell they’re dark, sharp.

  “Because you either trust me or those goons you just ran from get you. That stunt you just pulled? Breaking in? You don’t know what you just got yourself into. We need to go.” The man twists around, walking diligently forward. He paused, sees Leandro in the same spot, and grumbles. “Now...”

  Leandro doesn’t move, still skeptical, until he hears angry voices about a block away. Familiar angry voices. His expression drops and he scrambles after the stranger.

  “Can I at least get a name?”

  “Akira.”

  “Wow, you’re a talker, huh?”

  Akira grumbles, grabbing Leandro’s wrist and dragging him to a glowing red motorcycle. He pulls Leandro’s goggles onto his eyes hurriedly and then grabs his own to put on. Akira slides on first, looking back at Leandro expectantly.

  He looks nervous.

  “Why should I?”

  “Just shut up and trust me.” Akira grabs Leandro and drag him onto the vehicle, taking off immediately and racing through the streets. Seconds later, the wheels are off the ground and they’re shooting through the city.

  Leandro cries out in surprise, grabbing Akira’s fluttering jacket in a vice like grip as they ride.

  Answering his sister’s questions through the communication device slips his mind as the wind roars in his ears.

 

 

* * *

 

  
  
  
  After Akira deemed them far enough away their ride slowed considerably. It was more like they were just taking it out and cruising around for fun than having just escaped on it. Leandro relaxed more and more the longer he spent on the motorcycle, especially at this pace. But it’s leisurely nature caught up with him when María’s voice finally pierced his ears.

  “Leandro! I’m going to beat you bright blue! Do you hear me? Huh?!” Despite the yelling, Leandro could tell she was just worried. “¿Me escuchas? ¡Negro y azul!”

  “Cálmate, Sis. Estoy bien. I swear!” Leandro responded quickly, tapping into his earpiece.

  Angry, worried Spanish flooded his earpiece and he winced, apologizing for worrying his siblings.

  María sighed, energy spent, and let Leandro explain what happened. She was not impressed.

  “So, a strange man ordered you to come with him and you did? Are you crazy? Did you learn nothing at that fancy school you went to?!” María hissed, teasing him. “Is he at least cute?”

  “María!” Leandro gasped, taken aback. “¡No puedes simplemente preguntar eso!”

  “Is he?”

  “Yes?” In front of him, Akira shoved down his smile, covering it with a smirk.

  “Luna’s asking where you’re going. You’re out of our GPS range.”

  “I’m that far away?!” Leandro panicked. “Akira, where are we going?”

  He asked the question frantically, looking around at their surroundings. He didn’t recognize the buildings here. They were more rundown and the pristine lights of the inner city flickered out here.

  “We’re headed to the outskirts of the city. No one will look for you there.” Akira responded calmly, chancing a glance over his shoulder at Leandro. The other boy was leaning back on his hands, gazing at the scenery. “They won’t find María and Luna now that you’ve disappeared. You didn’t lead them home.”

  Leandro nodded his thanks.

  “How long have we been driving? And how far out is the outskirts?”

  “About an hour. We’ve got a ways to go, too, sorry Leandro.”

  “It’s fine. You saved my ass back there.”

  “Leandro! Luna is still on the line.” María hissed.

  “Shit. Ah, shoot! Sorry!” Leandro apologized quickly. “So, Akira... Where do you live?”

  “The Undercity.”

  “The what now?”

  “Of course you’re one of the oblivious ones... The Undercity. The city below Radix.” Leandro still looked confused so Akira decided to clarify. “Hundreds of years ago, the surface of our planet was entirely covered with people and aliens alike, being the intergalactic hub we are. We’d run out of room and, with the population still growing, we needed solutions fast.

  “Radix and most of the biggest cities are raised on platforms. Stilts made from tough, nearly indestructible metals hold the city above the original, land based city. Which is now deemed an Undercity. Most people living on the top level have no idea they’re not really on Earth or that the Undercity even exists. Those in the Undercity are always covered in shadows.

  “Nastier people typically come from Undercities into Radix or whatever elevated city it is to steal or make chaos. But they rarely get past the Outskirts, a rather barren land overrun with law enforcers. Like the tales they used to tell us about the ground wars when people used to sneak into countries without permission. It was apparently the cause of World War three.”

  “Oh... I had no idea.”

  “I know you didn’t. Because if you did, you wouldn’t have gone into that building. Those people? New aliens. They’ve been hiding out in the Undercity, stirring up a rebellion. They’re trying to crash the government and burn down Radix. They’re blue and purple, mostly, with orange or yellow eyes, fangs, furred skin and sharp claws. Like cats that walk on two legs. They claim to be descended from the Galra. From the Legend of Voltron.”

  “That’s a lot of information.” Leandro admitted, making Akira smile and roll his eyes.

  “I know. But you’ll live. I swear.”

  “So, how did you know to come get me? Why did you come get me?”

  Akira gave himself a minute to think before hitting something on his handlebars and turning around to face Leandro. The tan boy raised his eyebrows in alarm and went to scold the other but he was silenced with a pale hand.

  “Auto-pilot.” Akira said simply. “Weird things have been happening in the Undercity. The lion statues that surround our city are glowing, Leandro. The Legend might be real. They look like they’re talking to each other. Each glows a different color, and when one stops glowing another randomly starts, there’s no order or pattern.

  “But I do know that tonight, the Blue one was flashing, like an alarm. And suddenly I felt an urgent tug in my chest that dragged me up here and led me to you. Ignoring it was practically painful and I knew that meant it had to be urgent. I came as fast as I could, and when I laid eyes on you in the alleyway, the pain stopped.

  “My chest felt warm and it sounded like purring in the back of my head. Like a really happy lion.”

  “I thought the Voltron lions were a myth. Y’know the ‘Legend Of Voltron’.”

  “Not at all. I think they’re real. Those statues? Those are the lions, rusted and covered in nature. Some of the last natural things on earth.”

  “María. I’ve been kidnapped by a maniac.” Leandro said suddenly. “He’s been talking to lion statues. How do I get of this glowing red motorcycle, spaceship... thingy?”

  “You went with him in the first place. I told you it was stupid.” Maria remarked in his earpiece, quite snarky.

  Leandro hissed, pulling up his left wrist and tapping on his watch. Doing so pulled up a holographic map of the city, three dimensional and with correct ratios. It even had a holographic scan of the bike, Akira and Leandro in high definition.

  “Luna or María, show me where I was, and tell me how to stop this thing without dying.”

  “Woah! Hey! No, we have to go. You go back now and they’ll know where to look for you family! You can’t just leave!” Akira said frantically, twisting around on his hover bike and speeding up again.

  “Watch me! You can just kidnapped me!” Leandro let out a frightened yelp as the bike shot off, reaching out and grabbing Akira’s red jacket again.

  “Luna? María?!” Leandro nearly cried when no sound came from the earpiece. Just static. “You _fucker!_ ”

  Leandro growled, shifting around behind Akira to try and stand. The bike was fairly big and stable, but he was truly terrified to even be on the thing, much less stand. He reached his feet shakily, the wind whipping his hair, and looked down at his holographic map, watching streets fly by just as blurred on the displayed as the did in person.

  He tapped the side of his orange goggles, letting them map speed, timing and lift needed, number flashing past his eyes.

  “This is so stupid.” Leandro muttered, drawing Akira’s attention.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Jumping.”

  “What the _fuck?!_ Are you insane?”

  “Probably. But I can’t leave my family. They need me.”

  “They’ll _die_ if you go back.”

  “They’ll die if I don’t.”

  “We can come back for them! Just sit down!”

  Leandro hesitated, looking down at Akira.

  “How am I supposed to trust you? We don’t even know each other! You are taking me from my home and my family against my will and they _need_ me.” Leandro said, barely audible in the wind.

  “We’ll send people to retrieve your family, Leandro. But they’re not after them, they’re after you. Your family will be safe. You aren’t. Now sit down.” Akira let out a growl at the end, hoping his point got across.

  Leandro sagged, sitting down behind Akira who slowed down the bike. The silence between them stretched what felt like hours before Akira spoke up.

  “I’m sorry for yelling at you. And growling. I know what it’s like to lose your family and I’d never want it to happen to you. You were just being annoying.”

  “It’s okay. Sorry for freaking out… I just, I already miss their voices.” A few seconds passed before Leandro spoke again. “Heyyy. I’m not annoying.”

  “Sure you aren’t.” Akira smirked, Leandro gasped.

  “ _Ruuude_.” The tan skinned boy crossed his arms behind Akira, sticking his nose in the air even though Akira couldn’t see him. “We’re not friends anymore.”

  “We never were friends.”

  “You wound me, Keith.” Akira turned around in confusion, raising a brow at Leandro.

  “Keith? Where’d Keith come from?”

  Leandro paused, mouth open, and met Akira’s eye.

  “No idea,” he said honestly, shrugging. “It felt right for some reason. I don’t know any Keith’s.” He lowered his chin and uncrossed his arms, leaning to the left of the bike.

  “Weird.” Akira turned back around to steer. “Just don’t do it again.”

  “Yea, sure thing.”

  The silence between them lasted a few minutes, Leandro looking around at the pink, purples and blues of the cybercity, admiring it in the dark. Akira kept his face mostly forward, but every time he chanced a glance over his shoulder he was stunned by the beauty of the other boy in the soft lights, and each time he was forced to look forward to hide his blush.

  Leandro scooted his butt closer up behind Akira before laying back on the rear end of the bike. The sky beyond the city grew darker and darker as the lights around them grew brighter.

  “What tech do you have?” Leandro asked suddenly, breaking the calm.

  “What do you mean?” Akira questioned, glancing over his shoulder at the taller boy’s new position.

  “Like, I have my bow, pistols, goggles and wristband as well as some tough clothing. What do you have? What’s it do? My goggles scan things and run number and logistics, generally they have a form of heat or night vision and they can enhance my sight. The wristband is a map with the full layout of Radix, blueprints, scans, diagrams. The pistols shoot energy, like a laser gun sort of thing. The don’t have bullets but charge and can help me shoot by locking into targets. The bow transforms, collapses into practically nothing, or into a glider, sniper or any other weapon or tool I need. And the clothes are reinforced.”

  Akira looked over his shoulder and blinked.

  “Uh… my sword glows? And the bike goes from hover, to climb, to drive and to glide?”

  “That’s it? What about your goggles or your clothes, or your earrings? Is there a knife in you jacket, too?”

  “No.” Akira looked down at himself, inspecting the tight pants, black combat boots, grey tank and the bulky red biker jacket. Leandro just noticed it had dirty, white fur inside and on the collar. “The combat boots are steel toed and the earrings work to run an interface and communicate with HQ when we get closer. There’s is another knife in my right boot and three throwing knives that teleport back to my hands. They slide out the right sleeve from their holder and into my palm. The goggles are just goggles.”

  “Anything else?”

  “My bracelet works like your watch but better and I have bombs in the pockets of my utility belt.” Akira smirked.

  “Really!? What the hell? Why bombs? Also, we will see about that bracelet.”

  “Ice.”

  “Ice?”

  “In case of emergency.” Akira said, rolling his eyes. “You should know this if you’re a thief.”

  “Not a thief!” Leandro hissed. “I’m like… Robin Hood.”

  “So… a thief.”

  “No! A good person doing questionable things for the betterment of society.”

  “A respectable thief that powerful people hate.”

  “I’m not winning this am I?”

  “Nope.” Akira looked over his shoulder at Leandro, who was now propping himself up on his elbows. “We’re almost there. You should hold onto my waist.”

  “Why?”

  “Cause we’re driving off the edge.”

  “Wait, _what?!_ ” Leandro sat up straight. “Why?!”

  “We’ve gotta go down. Law enforcement will try and stop us so you need to hold on. We’ll go really fast and shoot off the edge. The won’t chase us down there once we’ve leapt.”

  “And you thought I was nuts.” Leandro whispered under is breath. “You’re literally batshit crazy.”

  “Yep.” Akira revved the engine and the hover bike shot off, Leandro screaming and clinging to his waist. They passed the borders and arrived at the Outskirts soon after, flying past guards who shot at them and closer to the edge. “Hold on!”

  The two flew off the ledge and soon after they began falling, nose-diving down into the fog below Radix. Few buildings pierced the low clouds, a few lights dimly shining as gravity pulled them down. They free fell for minutes before the bright red bike vanished into the shadows of the Great City.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’d like to remind everyone that this is an AU, my own actually, featuring Leakira, Klance and other renditions of the Voltron characters. It’s a Reincarnation/Timeloop AU. You’ll either figure out what that means by reading this whole thing when it’s done or you’ll ask me on Twitter (@kt_beta_)
> 
> Translation:   
> Can you hear me? Black and Blue!
> 
> Calm down, Sis. I’m fine.
> 
> You can’t just ask that!


End file.
